


Bleached White

by SaijSpellhart



Series: Floofy-eared Chat Blanc [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Akumatized Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir, F/M, Marichat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-15
Updated: 2019-07-20
Packaged: 2019-11-18 17:45:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18124469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaijSpellhart/pseuds/SaijSpellhart
Summary: Ladybug hasn't seen her partner in a month. In the wake of his disappearance rumors of a bleached white Chat have taken root across Paris. When Marinette gets ambushed in the alley behind her Parent's bakery she wakes up in an unfamiliar place but in the company of a very familiar figure. Has she finally found her partner, or a monster wearing his skin?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a gift for ShadowLordScorpio on tumblr, who won my 1k follower art/writing giveaway.

Lightning split the sky, the brief flicker of light spilling across an unconscious woman.

It was the rolling crackle of thunder off in the distance that roused Marinette into consciousness.

The musty stench of age and neglect stung her nose before her eyes could even begin adjusting to the dim light. But she knew right away that she wasn't someplace familiar.

Marinette recognized the plush texture of expensive blankets and a soft bed, but the space around her felt empty, her bleary eyes failing to pick out any shapes in the darkness. No furniture, just empty floor and walls.

Lightning spilled light into the room again cutting a terrifying silhouette against the windows. At first she thought it was Chat Noir hunched over, but there was something different. The edges of his figure looked pale... bleached like bone.

Then everything fell into darkness again but she could still make out his shape now that she knew he was there.

"Chat...?" Marinette tried to sit up and felt her head surge with dizzying pain. "Where am I?" She tried to recall memories, anything to help make sense of her current surroundings.

At the sound of her voice the Chat-like figure turned to look at her. But his eyes were all wrong. Blazing magenta cut through the darkness instead of the pleasant toxic green she was accustomed to.

Marinette saw him pull something away from his mouth and hiss, white fangs glinting dangerously, and suddenly the fetid stench of rotting cheese overpowered the general aroma of dust and neglect.

_Rotting cheese. Camembert._

Pain like a pounding hammer rippled through the back of her head, followed by memories. Memories of Chat's disappearance, a worried Ladybug searching for him in the dead of night for _weeks_ , sightings and rumors of a bleached white Chat seen all across Paris. Marinette cleaning out her cheese reserves when Chat failed to visit her for over a month. Angrily taking the spoiled cheese to the garbage can behind her parent's bakery... the smell had been so overpowering.

Those magenta eyes suddenly brought her back. Back to that alley, back to the creature who ambushed her in the darkness. So scared she stumbled and lost her footing... everything after was blackness.

Marinette reached up and touched the spot on the back of her head and hissed when pain lanced from a tender lump there.

"Chat..." she began again, in her silence he seemed to have returned to scarfing the foul smelling thing in his hands. "Where have you been?"

Magenta eyes fixed on her again, their demonic glow studying her from across the room.

A warm buzzing crawled from the inside of Marinette's jacket to the back of her collar.

"Something isn't right Marinette," Tikki whispered from the back of her neck. "That _is_ Chat. I know because I still feel Plagg. But... he's different. His aura is tainted."

The Chat figure finished licking the rotten smelling substance from his fingers and pitched a bag off to the side. The dim light of the window illuminated just enough for Marinette to recognize it. It was the bag the spoiled cheese had been in when she went to toss it.

  
"You ate all that spoiled cheese? But you _hate_ cheese." She'd purchased it for his Kwami to eat and recharge whenever he came by to visit her. Chat Noir himself refused to even smell the stuff.

Chat moved from his spot by the window, slinking on all fours towards her, those demonic eyes never blinking.

A sudden wave of fear crawled up her spine making her limbs feel heavy like lead and her blood run cold.

He moved closer, reaching the edge of the bed and continuing to close in on her.

Her breath hitched when Chat crawled over the blankets until he was practically on top of her. His breathing was audible as if he were drawing sharp breaths through his nose, and it took him burying his nose in her hair to realize he was smelling her.

 _The_ _temptation to slug him was almost unbearable._

This waaay overstepped their boundaries as mere friends, and it was even pushing it a little when he did it to Ladybug. Which she was _not_ right now.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Marinette~," he suddenly purred. But this wasn't the cheerful greeting she was accustomed to; his tone sounded sick and low, almost sinister. "My little _friend_ from the bakery. You stink of... bread."

Well he wasn't wrong. She still lived with her parents even though she was twenty. To make ends meet she worked mornings in the bakery—which would definitely contribute to her smelling like baked goods. Her afternoons were spent running her online custom clothing store.

He pulled away from her and, despite the implication that she smelled bad, licked his lips like he was starving. There was a change in his expression, a sense of lucidity in his eyes that hadn't been there before.

"What _happened_ to you?" She pressed again more firmly.

"Why?" He sneered, finally moving away from her to settle back on his heels, crouched on the edge of the bed. "Are you afraid of me? Everyone else is." He bared his teeth for emphasis and she took a sharp inhale when light reflected off rows of sharp fangs.

"Why are you all white?"

Chat suddenly let out a mocking laugh, "What's the matter? Do you only take your Chats the way you take your coffee?"

"Quit evading all my questions!"

Chat sniffed and stood up from the bed, "If I tell you, you might sic Ladybug after me. I know you're friends with that Ladyblogger after all."

"Hawkmoth akumatized you." She'd had the inkling suspicion the moment she woke up and found him in bleached white leather, but had hoped it wasn't true. His aversion to Ladybug only confirmed her suspicion.

"Au contraire, _I_ akumatized myself."

"And what difference does that make?"

He glared down his nose, a superior expression etched along his features. "It means I am not that pathetic man's pawn."

As if Hawkmoth had been listening in (and perhaps he was) the glowing outline of a moth burned to life in front of Chat's eyes, and he suddenly screamed.

Marinette watched in horror as Chat hit the ground, and began writhing along the floor. She felt her heart clench at his cries of agony, and even when she clapped her hands over her ears they seemed to penetrate right through her.

Chat's claws gouged deep lacerations into the wooden floors, ripping up bits of splinters, while his boots kicked up dirt and dust. He writhed and struggled on the ground as if someone were torturing him, back arching, tail lashing, teeth gnashing, his pupils blown wide, but focused on absolutely nothing. The moth pattern in front of his face burned even brighter with a cruel intensity.

"No!" Chat snarled into the floor, dragging his canines over the boards. "Nononono—!" His frantic denial dissolved into an unintelligible scream of pain, and he rolled along the ground akin to a contortionist, limbs wildly swinging and slashing anything within reach of his claws. (Which given the barren state of the room, fortunately happened to be more floor.)

Marinette clamped her eyes shut, trying to shut out the horrible image before her. She couldn't watch this. She couldn't watch her partner suffer like this, akumatized or not.

"Tikki what do I do? He needs help!"

The Kwami pressed hot paws to the back of her neck, but it was far from comforting. "I don't know Marinette. Hawkmoth appears to be hurting him, trying to make him submit. But Chat's fighting it."

"And we cant stop this?" Marinette implored.

"He either has to give in, or fight passed it until Hawkmoth gives up."

The torture scene before them felt as though it played out for hours, despite only going on for a few minutes. The sound of Chat's agony echoed through the building and Marinette's head, until she was sure she'd be hearing his screams in her sleep. His claws were digging against the wood so savagely it was a wonder he didn't rip a whole in the floor and fall through.

"Look Marinette!" Tikki cried, slapping her paw against her chosen's neck to get her attention.

Marinette opened her eyes to find the glowing butterfly pattern flickering in strength. It blinked like an old neon light before flickering out completely, leaving Chat to pant against the floor in exhaustion.

"Perhaps it's just as taxing on Hawkmoth to inflict pain on his victims like that," Tikki pondered next to her ear.

With the absence of the glowing butterfly, the pain appeared to recede, and Chat's body went limp. His breaths were labored, rattling in and out of his lungs with effort, and saliva bubbled from the corner of his mouth.

He looked like a wounded animal.

Marinette hesitated for only a moment before surging forward and dropping to his side.

"Chat! Are you alright?" She placed a hand on his shoulder, but he didn't respond. "Oh god, please be alright." Her fingers traced over his ribs, before touching his side.

A shudder wracked his body.

Chat began wheezing like something was lodged in his throat. At first Marinette thought he was choking, until realizing it was akin to a cat coughing up a hairball. Seconds later he coughed an akuma onto the floor amid a puddle of saliva and iridescent purple butterfly scales.

The akuma attempted to take flight, clearly disoriented and flailing in the puddle of drool.

"Tikki, I'm not transformed!"

The Kwami leapt into action, diving at the butterfly before it could escape.

"You owe me for this, Marinette," she grumbled, lifting the slimy akuma to her mouth before adding, "Big time."

Marinette watched as her Kwami ate the akuma. Her mouth curled into a look of horror and disgust.

"I'm purifying it," Tikki explained in a matter-of-fact tone. "I can do that."

A moment later she burped out a completely white butterfly. They both watched it flutter towards the nearest exit.

Kwami and Chosen returned their attention to Chat to find he had passed out on the floor. His suit still shown as white as the moon.

"I don't understand," started Marinette, "Shouldn't that have fixed him?"

Tikki moved to hover next to his face, and placed a paw against his cheek. "Not if he's eaten more than just the one. Don't you think it's odd that we've hardly seen any akumas at all for over a month?"

"You son-of-a-bi—atch of cookies," Marinette swore at the unconscious man.

"Look on the bright side, Marinette. At least we've finally found him. And look how cute he is!" Tikki made a circle and grabbed the tip of Chat's ear between her paws. "He's got big fluffy ears." She giggled and let go before zooming down near his backside and lifting something long and furry off the floor. "And a big soft kitty tail!"

Marinette scooted closer, and pulled Chat's head into her lap for closer inspection.

Sure enough, right where his human ears should have been were two large and floofy cat-like ears. Complete with a couple of piercings on the left one.

"Just because he's cute now doesn't mean I'm going to forgive the hell he's put me through." She pushed the long blonde bangs away from his forehead, noting how his hair was damp with sweat. "I've been worried sick about you," she scolded his unconscious face.

"But look at that face." Tikki returned to tap him gently on the nose. "He looks so helpless."

Marinette cocked her head to the side, _Maybe a little._ In his unconscious state his features had smoothed out and she could see the gentleness of Chat Noir again. "So how do we make him cough up the rest of the akumas?"

Tikki moved down his chest, illuminating parts of him with the pink glow from her own body, She stopped to touch one of his over-sized lapels and giggled. "I suppose we'll just have to try trial-and-error."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The art was drawn by the wonderfully talented lb-art from Tumblr. You can find the original here: https://lb-art.tumblr.com/post/183636756562/from-brilliant-saijspellhart-chat-blanc-au-here


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After finally hunting down her missing partner, Marinette becomes the hunted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I accidentally wrote a continuation to this oneshot. Now it’s a two shot. Enjoy.

"So what's the plan for when he wakes up?" Tikki flitted around the interior of the small studio-style apartment, her soft glow illuminating things just enough to see.

"I have absolutely no idea." Marinette's eyes followed the Kwami around the room, scrutinizing the place Chat had brought her to.

The tip of a long furry tail twitched.

It wasn't the most amazing place. In fact the building might as well have been condemned, judging from the vacancy and the dilapidated state of the interior. A quick peek out into the hall had confirmed the vacant state of the building. Apartment doors were crooked on hinges, left open, or gone completely. The stairs leading to the lower floors were rotten and sagging in places, and the hand rail long missing.

"At least I don't see any rats." Marinette hugged her arms at the thought of the building being infested.

"Maybe Chat ate them all," Tikki giggled and grabbed her toes.

A floofy ear flicked.

"Gross! Don't say that."

"His breath did smell pretty awful," Tikki added thoughtfully.

"It was the cheese," Marinette defended on his behalf. "It was that rotten cheese he ate." She didn't even want to imagine her partner eating nasty rats that he caught in a nasty abandoned building. Her mouth had been on that mouth before. (Thankfully not since he'd been akumatized, but _still_.)

"From the way he ate that cheese, I suspect he hasn't eaten in a good long while."

A second ear twitched to life, brushing an eddy of dust off the floor.

Marinette felt her chest compress painfully as she spared her suffering partner a pitying look.

"Should we hang around to see if he coughs up another akuma, or leave him here and come back tomorrow?"

The storm that had been raging outside when she'd first woken up had worn itself out to a tired grumble. It was late at night, but if she transformed she could make it home before getting too drenched. There was a lull in the lightning. If she left now the risk of getting struck was significantly low.

Another twitch at the end of the tail, before the whole thing came alive with a sudden lashing movement.

Besides, her parents were probably worried sick, what with their daughter just up and disappearing after taking cheese out to the trash.

"It's probably best if we go home for now," said Tikki. "We can try to help him in the morning." She zipped across the room to settle on her host's shoulder.

Marinette gave her Kwami a soft smile and stroked the top of her head. "Yeah, I'm ready to get out of this place."

Sparing Chat one last glance, noting he was still unconscious and sprawled across the floor, she started for the exit. She had almost made it to the threshold when a floorboard betrayed her departure, creaking like a scream from the damned beneath her foot.

She froze despite herself. A shiver of terror she could only describe as instinctual slithered down her spine like cold gravy. It was the feeling one could only attribute to being _hunted._

Marinette looked over her shoulder hoping to find Chat still unconscious.

Blazing magenta pierced the darkness, burning with the intensity of the molten rock. Large round pupils that should have been black as coals, burned an iridescent white, like will-o-wisps caught in a fiery hell.

He looked like a demon. The lucidity she'd seen before was nowhere to be found.

"Run," Tikki said quietly into her ear.

Marinette swallowed thickly. "What?" her voice barely a whisper.

Chat eyed her like a predator zeroing in on its prey.

The little red Kwami buried itself in her hair and hissed again with even more urgency. "Run, Marinette!"

Her feet were moving before her mind could even catch up. She threw herself at the door just as she saw Chat surge up from the floor in her peripheral vision.

Marinette didn't even look back, tumbling out the door of the apartment and booking it towards the stairwell at the edge of the landing.

Claws scraping in the apartment alerted her that Chat was already up. A terrifyingly low growl confirming that he was not feeling particularly friendly.

She took the stairs two at a time, wishing that handrail had still been intact.

The landing shook, alerting her that Chat had leapt out of the apartment after her.

"Shouldn't you be transforming?" Tikki called next to her ear.

"Not unless I want to reveal myself to Chat _and_ Hawk Moth." Marinette reached the next floor and hopped over the gap to the next set of stairs. She could hear Chat already barreling down the steps above her.

"The alternative is being dead!"

"You really think Chat would kill me?" Her foot caught on a broken board, and she stumbled down the last few steps and onto the next landing. Thankfully, she recovered quickly and started for the next stairwell.

"I don't think Chat is _sane_ right now," Tikki stressed. "The intentions I sensed radiating from his energy were borderline murderous."

"Maybe Hawk Moth finally took control of him?"

Wood splintered above them, and it sounded like Chat hit one of the rotten steps. His angry scream echoed through the building, and they could hear claws scrabbling against wood and metal.

"I think he's just gone feral," said Tikki. "That much pain is enough to drive anyone a little crazy."

She hit the ground floor, her luck still holding out given she's only stumbled a few times, and not enough to really slow her down.

Above her, the feral white Chat was still hot on her heels and closing in.

"Your definition of _a little crazy_ and mine are wildly different, Tikki."

Marinette came up on the entrance to the front of apartment building and prayed that it wasn't locked.

Thankfully Tikki was already one step ahead of her, zipping out of her hair and phasing inside the door. Before Marinette's hand had even reached the door knob, the locks were clicking a release.

She didn't dare look over her shoulder and see how close Chat was. The hairs on the back of her neck were already telling her that he was far too near.

Without a moment of hesitation, she forced open the door and darted out, taking her first breath of fresh but wet night air.

Using her body weight, Marinette slammed the door shut behind her, just in time to feel something heavy crash into the other side, making the hinges groan.

The sound of the locks sliding home was like a sigh of relief, and Tikki phased out of the door to join her.

Marinette took off running again, her lungs burning, but her body insistent to survive.

The sound of Chat slamming against the door got further away as her own breaths got louder and louder.

All the buildings in the neighborhood looked the same: old and decrepit, some of them being renovated, some left to rot. She ducked down one side street and then another, trying anything to throw him off. She didn't even have the space of mind to realize that she had no clue where she was or where she was going.

"We should transform now," Tikki urged.

 _You're right,_ Marinette wanted to agree, but the only sound that left her was ragged wheezing.

_Spots on._

_Spots on!_

"Sp-spo—!"

Chat's scream interrupted her call for transformation. She snapped her head around only to see him plunging at her from a nearby roof, all fangs bared and manic eyes on fire.

It was as if someone had ripped open his face and it was all teeth inside.

This was it. It was all over.

Her eyes slammed shut, and she curled in on herself. His feral scream searing itself into her mind.

He would kill her, and the last thing she would ever hear was—

"Shelter!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The art was drawn by the talented lb-art from Tumblr. You can check out the original here: https://lb-art.tumblr.com/post/183804153992/a-very-angry-and-quite-scary-chat-blanc-inspired


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carapace shows up in the nick of time and things get a little cataclysmic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, it’s a three shot now...
> 
> Also I reworked the timeline a little and shortened the amount of time Chat has been missing from a couple of months to just a little over one month.

A flash of green light heralded a force field, and Chat hit the surface with a painful smack. The crackle of green energy repelled him, and Marinette watched him land in the street just outside the alley.

All his white fur from head to tail was bristling, his claws digging gouges into the concrete. The rumbling growl coming from his chest could have been mistaken for a roll of thunder.

"Looks like I found you just in time." Carapace held out his hand to her.

Her own hand was shaking when she accepted his assistance, letting him haul her back onto her feet.

"Your parents called Alya when you went missing tonight, and we investigated the alley behind your house. Luckily Rena was able to sniff out _his_ smell," Carapace jabbed a thumb in the direction of Chat. "We had a feeling we might find you with him," he explained while keeping a close eye on the terrifying akuma pacing the mouth of the alley on all fours. "We haven't been able to locate his hideout like you asked, but we've collected lots of reported sightings in this area and figured it was a good place to start looking for you."

"Good call." Marinette attempted and failed to brush off the wet dirt from her clothes, only managing to smear mud around. "I think I can tell you where his hideout is."

Carapace nodded, and it was left unsaid that they would discuss how she came about that information later.

Seeming to grow impatient, Chat launched himself at the force-field. His claws gouged into the green energy, causing sparks of magic to pop, then sank his fangs in and began uselessly biting.

"You got a plan, so we can purify him?" he asked, still watching the snarling akuma. Chat continued to mouth the force-field. He was completely unconcerned with the magic attempting to repel him and sparking angrily with every contact of tooth and claw.

"I don't think we can right now. I've already purified one butterfly that came out of him and he's still like this. Tikki thinks he must have been eating all of Hawk Moth's butterflies for the past month."

"That would explain a lot."

"Hey bubble-buddies!" a familiar new voice broke in. "Are you two going to sit there and twiddle your thumbs?"

Carapace and Marinette jerked their attention up to see the fox heroine peering down at them from over the edge of a building.

"We were kinda cozy down here," Carapace sassed back, "thought we might spend the night."

Chat ceased chewing on the force field to hiss up at Rena Rouge.

"Hey there, pretty kitty," she winked, and fluttered her fingers. "Digging your new look. It screams 'I'm such a bad boy,' with those over-sized lapels."

Another hiss, this one even more angry than the previous, and Chat dug his claws deeper into the force field causing the magic to flicker and pop violently.

"Can you _not_ taunt him while he's trying to kill us?" Carapace called up to her.

"I could try," Rena mused, "but it'll be _really_ hard."

The barrier suddenly made a loud cracking noise, drawing the attention of Marinette and the two heroes.

Bubbling black and purple energy oozed out of the palms of Chat's hands. Tendrils of black crawled along the surface of the field. There were hundreds of them, looking like tiny black hands on the ends of long thin boneless arms. Each finger tip of the tiny demonic-like hands seemed to have their own little mouths full of teeth, the teeth no larger than the tip of a sewing needle.

The tendrils slithered and pulled themselves further along the surface, greedily eating away at Carapace's Miraculous magic. The bubbling hands even crawled up Chat's own arms, digging into his suit like he was a corpse being infested with worms.

"Is th-that cataclysm?" Carapace choked, stepping to put himself between Marinette and the writhing black mass. "He didn't even say it! How can he use it if he didn't even call for it?"

"That force field isn't going to hold out for much longer," Marinette pointed out. "As soon as it gives, can you get me some place out of his eye-line?"

"Maybe?" he squeaked, watching a crack ripple through the flickering green magic. "Rena, we could really use a hand here! Think you could create a diversion for us so Marinette can do her thing?"

"Sh- _sure~_ " Rena called down, but she sounded sick to her stomach and a little horrified with the scene below.

They watched her raise the flute to her mouth, her hands trembling, but readying to cast her illusion magic the moment the force field gave way.

Another crack, and everyone's breath caught. Carapace readied himself, wrapping his arm around Marinette's waist.

Chat's sinister black magic continued to voraciously eat away at the barrier, and his eyes had completely lost their pupils, becoming nothing more than empty pits of burning magenta.

One last crack sounded off, like a pane of glass finally giving out, and the whole side of the forcefield shattered like the tempered windshield of a car. Popping green magic rained down on Carapace and Marinette, and Chat fell to the ground on all fours, a terrifying wild cat about to go for the kill. The bubbling black magic that had been spilling from his hands began retreating back into his palms.

"Now!" The turtle hero screamed. He pushed off the ground with Marinette clinging to him, and plunged further into the alley.

"Mirage!" Rena called out, and her flute whistled it's high pitched notes.

Chat pounced, mouth ripping open, and claws bared.

But the two disappeared into a burst of dazzling orange magic.

Instead of making contact with Carapace and Marinette, Chat crashed painfully into the concrete snarling and swiping at a sudden onslaught of blues, and pinks, and cream colored shapes.

When he finally righted himself, the turtle hero was gone, and he was lost in a sea of more than a thousand scattering Marinettes.


End file.
